Accurate segmentation of text and figures in images of scanned books, magazines, and newspapers helps to correctly infer the layout and flow of the primary narrative in a scanned item. In addition, once figures are accurately segmented from the surrounding text, the figures themselves can be a useful tool in representing and relating books. Pages that include images are often the most useful preview pages from books: they are faster for a person to skim than large amounts of non-illustrated text. Implicit relationships between books and documents can also be inferred by finding shared or closely related figures, and treating each as an implicit “link” from one book to another, similar to what is currently done with web documents. Being able to find the non-photo-realistic drawings, in addition to photographs, extends the number books to which such actions may be applied (e.g., historic books, manuscripts, and newsprint).